Elvira Dyangani Ose, who stepped down as director of MACBA in Barcelona earlier this year, has been named artistic director of Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town. The South African museum said she will take up the post on October 1. The appointment marks a leadership change at one of Africa’s prominent contemporary art institutions. Experience Abu Dhabi’s official listing for the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial 2026 to 2027 also names Dyangani Ose as the biennial’s artistic director, alongside her Zeitz MOCAA role.
Dyangani Ose’s move follows the MACBA consortium’s decision that her position was incompatible with her new role as head of the second Abu Dhabi Public Art Biennial. That ruling prompted her resignation from MACBA, where she had served since 2021, becoming the first woman and the first person of color to lead the museum. The biennial is scheduled to open in Al Ain on October 23, then expand to Abu Dhabi on November 15. Its program is due to run through February 15, 2027.
The second biennial brings together 21 artists and collectives from the UAE and abroad under the theme “Home: A Glossary for a Communal Sense of Place.” Its program features monumental works designed to be interactive and multisensory, with an emphasis on public engagement. The inaugural edition ran from November 2024 to April 2025 and featured more than 50 projects. The second is described as smaller, with greater emphasis on large-scale works and community participation. Speaking to The National, Dyangani Ose said, “The question that I have always pursued is the idea of what makes us come together.”
Zeitz MOCAA pointed to Dyangani Ose’s international experience and commitment to African and diaspora artists as basic factors in her selection. The museum is approaching its tenth anniversary and described her arrival as the start of an “exciting new chapter,” while reaffirming its mission to promote contemporary African art and encourage artistic exchange. Her previous posts include director and chief curator of The Showroom in London and curator of international art at Tate Modern. She also led MACBA.
Originally from Córdoba and with roots in Equatorial Guinea, Dyangani Ose studied at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and Cornell University in New York. Her career includes roles at the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno in Las Palmas and the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo in Seville. She also curated the 2014 Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art and directed The Showroom from 2018.
At MACBA, Dyangani Ose sought to challenge the museum’s traditional structure and make it more inclusive and open. Her leadership was seen as a turning point for the institution, long a reference point for contemporary art in Spain. Her museum directorship and biennial role place her at the intersection of institutional programming and international contemporary-art networks, with public art also part of her work.
Housed in a converted grain silo on Cape Town’s waterfront, Zeitz MOCAA has become a major platform for African artists since opening. Its focus on contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora has drawn international attention. Dyangani Ose has described the balance she seeks between place and broader artistic possibility, telling The National: “I like the idea that yes, there are things that have to be related to the place, but you also want art to take you far away from your everyday.”
Leadership changes at major art institutions can reshape curatorial direction and institutional priorities. Dyangani Ose’s experience at MACBA, Tate Modern and The Showroom, along with her work on the Abu Dhabi biennial, brings a perspective spanning museums and public art to Zeitz MOCAA as it approaches its anniversary.
